Hu Yaobang

Hu Yaobang, former Chinese Communist Party leader, died of a heart attack in Peking this morning, the official New China News Agency said. Hu, once the protege of senior leader Deng Xiaoping and still a member of the party's powerful Politburo, was ousted in January, 1987 by party hard-liners after a wave of student protests calling for more freedom and democracy. Hu, 73, suffered a heart attack April 8, the agency said. He was given all possible medical attention "but to no avail."

China announced plans Tuesday to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the birth of deposed leader Hu Yaobang, a relatively open-minded official whose death sparked the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests. Analysts and Communist Party members cautioned, however, that this decision should in no way be considered a step toward reevaluating the violent crackdown 16 years ago, which defined a generation and soured China's relations with the outside world.

Two years ago, Hu Yaobang, the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, suggested that the people of China start switching from chopsticks to knives and forks. "We should prepare more knives and forks, buy more plates and sit around the table to eat Chinese food in the Western style, that is, each from his own plate," the party leader said during a trip to Inner Mongolia. "By doing so, we can avoid contagious diseases."

A single protester, realizing that he faced almost certain arrest, sought to honor the victims of last June's Beijing massacre by displaying white paper flowers in Tian An Men Square on Sunday. The man, who identified himself as a scientist from southern Guizhou province, briefly drew a small crowd of Chinese pedestrians and foreign correspondents, then was detained and taken away by police.

For Hu Yaobang, the problems in trying to change China and the world's largest Communist Party began virtually from the moment that he assumed office. On July 1, 1981, only two days after taking over as head of the Chinese Communist Party, Hu made his debut with a rousing, two-hour address to 10,000 party faithful in the main auditorium of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The occasion was the 60th anniversary of the party's founding.

Hu Yaobang, second in command to Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, resigned Friday as the head of the world's largest Communist party after the party leadership announced that he had confessed to "mistakes on major issues of political principles." The Communist Party said that Premier Zhao Ziyang will become the party's "acting general secretary." No replacement for Zhao was announced Friday, but a selection could be made within the next few days.

A new peace proposal by the Cambodian government-in-exile in Peking received support from Hu Yaobang, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, who called it "generous and reasonable," the New China News Agency said. The plan calls for a partnership with the Hanoi-backed regime of Heng Samrin and a phased withdrawal of Vietnamese troops.

China announced plans Tuesday to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the birth of deposed leader Hu Yaobang, a relatively open-minded official whose death sparked the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests. Analysts and Communist Party members cautioned, however, that this decision should in no way be considered a step toward reevaluating the violent crackdown 16 years ago, which defined a generation and soured China's relations with the outside world.

Thousands of pro-democracy student demonstrators confronted police on the streets of Beijing this morning, defying a government edict that protests would no longer be tolerated. Shortly after noon, an orderly procession of about 15,000 students had gotten past three sets of police lines and was marching toward downtown Tian An Men Square. Soon after the first students began marching, a line of several hundred policemen blocked their path, but after a nonviolent 10-minute face-off--during which bystanders shouted for police to let the students pass--the line yielded and the students marched on. In the next two hours, the procession broke through police lines in two more places.

In the biggest pro-democracy demonstrations since early 1987, thousands of students staged rallies and marches in Beijing on Monday and today in honor of Communist Party reformist Hu Yaobang, who died Saturday of a heart attack. About 4,000 students from Beijing University and the People's University of China held pro-democracy rallies at their campuses and in nearby streets in northwestern Beijing late Monday night. Early this morning, about 2,000 students made a four-hour march to Tian An Men Square in central Beijing, carrying a banner that read: "Forever cherish the memory of Comrade Yaobang, the Soul of China."

While an official of China's propaganda department said the party will probably publish its official judgment on the late Hu Yaobang next weekend, Chinese students continued to heap praise on the former Communist Party leader. Hu, 73, the party chief for 4 1/2 years until his dismissal in January, 1987, died of a heart attack Saturday, provoking an outpouring of grief from the young and the intelligentsia. Hu's policies of greater democracy and freedom of expression led to his dismissal.

Hu Yaobang, former Chinese Communist Party leader, died of a heart attack in Peking this morning, the official New China News Agency said. Hu, once the protege of senior leader Deng Xiaoping and still a member of the party's powerful Politburo, was ousted in January, 1987 by party hard-liners after a wave of student protests calling for more freedom and democracy. Hu, 73, suffered a heart attack April 8, the agency said. He was given all possible medical attention "but to no avail."

Former Chinese Communist Party chief Hu Yaobang will return to public life today for the first time since he was ousted from his job in the wake of student demonstrations last January. A spokesman for the National People's Congress, China's Parliament, announced Tuesday that Hu will be among the 157 members of the congress' leadership present today when Premier Zhao Ziyang delivers his annual speech to the opening session. Zhao's speech is China's version of a state of the union address.

For Hu Yaobang, the problems in trying to change China and the world's largest Communist Party began virtually from the moment that he assumed office. On July 1, 1981, only two days after taking over as head of the Chinese Communist Party, Hu made his debut with a rousing, two-hour address to 10,000 party faithful in the main auditorium of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The occasion was the 60th anniversary of the party's founding.

February 8, 1987 | Jonathan D. Pollack, Jonathan D. Pollack is a senior staff member with the Rand Corp., specializing in Chinese affairs.

Chill political winds are blowing through Beijing, matching the Chinese capital's fierce winter weather. The abrupt resignation last month of Communist Party General Secretary Hu Yaobang and the reimposition of party orthodoxy on intellectual expression suggest to many the end of China's recent flirtation with political reform. Senior leader Deng Xiaoping's endless assurances to foreign visitors of policy continuity and political stability seem much less credible.